Capacity Building for Effective Early Childhood Education within Anganwadis A Model Developed and Implemented by Centre for Learning Resources (CLR)

Focus on Acquisition of knowledge Acquisition of skills Developing the attitude needed to work with children Evaluation Participants – Anganwadi Workers, Anganwadi Helpers, Supervisors, CDPO, Trainers at AWTC, Trainers at MLTC, and Parents & Community

Capacity Building Process 1.Developing ECE Program Outcomes and Indicators 2.Deciding the implementation Strategy 3.Adopting & Contextualizing CLR’s Developmentally Appropriate ECE Curriculum

CLR Eclectic ECE Curriculum (Activity-based) Physical Development / Health / Hygiene Cognitive Development (‘Thinking Things Out’) Development of concepts related to the child's world; reasoning abilities; divergent thinking Language Development : Receptive and expressive language skills Emergent Literacy Phonological and phonemic awareness; orientation to print; readiness for writing Beginning Mathematics Early number and spacial concepts, and related vocabulary Creative Expression Art activities; music and movement; creative play Social and Emotional Development Development of positive self concept, self confidence, sociability with peers and adults.

CLR ECE Kit A set of easily replenishable learning materials correlated with the curriculum with a guidebook Play materials Material collected from the environment Teacher Prepared TLMs Attention to appropriate storage for easy retrieval of materials Capacity Building Process 4. Putting together an ECE kit

Capacity Building Process 5. Developing Training Content and Training Aids Focus Areas Trainees’ understanding of herself as ECE worker Understanding children’s rights and developmental needs Activity-based ECE curriculum and methods Attitudes of the Anganwadi Worker Making and using learning materials Managing activity-based learning Monitoring and self-evaluation Parent and community awareness / involvement

Capacity Building Process 6.Developing a Monitoring & Mentoring Design 7.Developing a Tool to Monitor and Assess ECE Classroom Process 8.Developing a Tool to Assess School Readiness

Phase 1: Building capacity of motivated Anganwadi Workers to Develop Centers were Best Practices where Observable – Observation Anganwadis

Phase 2: Developing an ECE Block Resource Team (BRT) ICDS Supervisors (9) Balshikshan Prasar Karyakartas (3) recruited by CLR Program Officer Building Capacity of the ECE BRT as: Field Based Trainers Reflective Supervisors Mentors

Phase 3 Training of Anganwadi Workers by BRT Training Strategy: decentralized at circle level recurrent from familiar to unfamiliar simple to complex

Training Design: Observe ‘real time process with children’ Theoretical Input Practice Skills Input on Ancillary Information Plan Individual Time Table for ECE

Phase 4 Monitoring and On-Site Mentoring by BRT Plan Implement Reflect

Strategy Frequent visits Focus on demonstration & not instruction Mentor – Anganwadi Worker/Helper relationship important Recognise and appreciate effort Tele-mentoring

Phase 5 Diffuse Intervention to Develop a Critical Mass of Anganwadis showing ‘Good ECE Practices’ within each Supervisory beat 18 Anganwadis 36 Anganwadis 120 Aws 90 Aws Mentoring support Shikshan sakhis

Impact Improvement in ECE Quality Self confidence Perspective & attitude towards ECE Ability to reflect on ones own program